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Columbus eyes hefty levy for schools

Columbus school attendance scandal

Columbus City Schools employees -- and perhaps others in schools throughout the state -- are accused of falsifying students' records to improve their schools' standing on state report cards. Read the complete series.

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Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman has encouraged the community to “stack hands” to fix failing
Columbus schools. Now, the district’s next property-tax levy request could stack mills on a
November ballot issue to pay for some of the ideas Coleman has endorsed.

The levy question likely would fund not only Columbus City Schools, but also a sizable expansion
of pre-kindergarten classes and an “innovation fund” that would share tax money with charter
schools, both ideas endorsed by Coleman’s education commission. It also could include a bond levy
for another round of school-replacement construction projects, according to the debate of the
school district’s millage committee yesterday.

The committee yesterday instructed district staff to start crunching the numbers, on track for
presenting a proposal to the Columbus Board of Education in just over three weeks.

“We’re not going to have a (millage) number that doesn’t make sense, because this is folks’
money,” said school board member Gary Baker, who is leading the committee.

“We want to tell (voters) what they’re going to be investing in, what they’re going to get for
their money, and it’s got to make sense to them, and it’s got to be reasonable.”

The sometimes-contentious wrangling that marked interactions between the education commission
and the school board appears to have given way to cooperation around a levy that would for the
first time also fund charter schools.

“We have to keep our eye on the ball,” said millage panel member Alex Fischer, who as head of
the Columbus Partnership represents some of the most influential business and organization leaders
in the city. “We have to win an election.”

The mayor’s education commission endorsed expanding pre-K. Janet Jackson, president of United
Way of Central Ohio, told the millage panel yesterday that research shows such early intervention
can greatly improve student success in later grades.

During the 2011-12 school year, 45 percent of Columbus City Schools third-graders couldn’t pass
the third-grade state reading test, which is now mandatory for most students to advance to the
fourth grade, Jackson said. About 2,000 students might have to repeat the third grade next year,
costing the district an extra $29 million a year, she said. Serving the same number of students in
a pre-K program would cost about $16 million a year, she said. That would amount to a tax of about
2 mills, or $60 per year on a $100,000 home.

However, a district analysis last year estimated it would cost 1.53 mills, a tax of about $45
per year on a $100,000 home, to create 1,000 pre-K seats.

The mayor’s education commission recommended up to $50 million for the innovation fund. While
the city and private businesses may also contribute money to the fund, “a good portion” would come
from district property taxes, said millage panel member Michael Reese, Coleman’s chief of
staff.

A mill raises about $8.5 million a year in the Columbus district, so it would take just under
three mills — a tax of about $90 per year on a $100,000 home — to raise $25 million for the
fund.

During levy talks last year, the district said it would take 7.66 mills — a tax of about $235 on
a $100,000 home — just to maintain existing district-school programs, avoiding cuts. And that was
if it could collect the tax this entire calendar year, which didn’t happen, meaning the comparable
millage figure to maintain current programs could be higher.

Finally, there is the school-rebuilding program, which the district has a longstanding agreement
with the Ohio School Facilities Commission to continue. Last year, officials estimated the next leg
of the program could cost between 0.56 mills and 4.48 mills — a tax of $17 to $137 per year on a
$100,000 home — depending on how many schools are replaced.

Officials say the panel could scale back on the proposals or seek alternate funding. But stack
all those needs into a levy, and the proposed tax increase could top $500 per year on a $100,000
home.